The Serenity Prayer

Father Robby talked about the Serenity Prayer in church this morning. He, like me, said that for the longest time he never knew there were more lines to the prayer than just the first couple of lines. I wanted to share two versions of the prayer with you this morning. It is packed with words and ideas that make living in this world make a lot more sense.

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; 

Enjoying one moment at a time; 

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 

Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 

Trusting that He will make all things right 
if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life 

and supremely happy with Him  Forever in the next.
 Amen.

The prayer first appeared in written form in 1943 in a sermon by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. I found the original version on Wikipedia:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.